We LOVE nature. We love wide open spaces. We love watching the birds at the feeder and feeling the breeze on our faces. We enjoy growing things in the garden and being outdoors.

However, nature HATES me. *sigh* A few years ago I went for allergy testing. They did the scratch test on my back and then allowed me to sit there for 10 minutes while they waited to see what the reactions looked like. Now mind you, I couldn’t see what was happening on my back. Instead I was sitting there, hands clenched, trying to get my mind off of the intense itching that was driving me crazy! This was about 30 seconds after they finished applying the serums and had left the room. Around the five minute mark the allergist returned to see how I was progressing and all I heard was the door quickly shutting again as he said, “Hey <insert the other doctor’s name> you have to come see this!” Let me tell you, that is NOT what you want to hear when you’re trying to keep your hands in front of you so that you don’t rip the skin off of your back. Apparently I was having quite the reaction! When the 10 minutes were up they came back and did a lot of writing. A LOT of writing. They didn’t wash my back off or even give me an antihistimine. Instead the allergist went right into the spiel about what course of treatment he felt we should take. I had to stop him because I wanted to know what I was allergic to, after all they had tested me for weeds, grasses, trees, and other environmental factors. He basically told me that I had reacted to everything except dogs and dust mites so he wasn’t going to list out everything. Even when I was getting the allergy shots (which didn’t really work for me) I was still having to take oral allergy medicine every day. Thus, mother nature is constantly trying to kill me.

This is my back deck. You can see in the corner of the yard there is a LARGE maple tree. Have you ever been around a maple tree? They are dirty, nasty, and also try to kill me. They covered our cars with pollen and tree gunk, plus they enjoyed throwing their tree mess all over my back deck.

It’s partner in filthy crime resided on the other side of our driveway. Again, I love nature. But these trees had to go. They were so CLOSE to the house that I worried whenever a strong wind came through, not to mention the fact that they were filthy. Between them and the birds that sat in the branches above my car… my car was a mess. I was NOT happy.

Now, THIS made me happy. 🙂

Do I feel bad that a beautiful tree is now gone? Yes, but don’t feel bad… it is currently being put to good use. We gave it to somebody who uses it to heat their house so it didn’t go to waste. Both of the trees came down that day.

The guys who took them down were very good and very safe. They used ropes and were mindful of where they were dropping the branches. They did a very good job of cleaning everything up.

Once they were done we had a friend with a stump grinder come over and take care of the remaining parts of the trees. He even put Jay to work!

With the trees down we moved the fence so that we can now park both cars in the driveway. Look at how happy my car looks knowing that it won’t get that nasty pollen or tree filth dropped all over it!

Taking those trees down really opened up the yard and even allowed more light into our neighbor’s front room. They were happy about that! I love the fact that I no longer have to worry about trees coming down on the house or having to clean up pollen before I can comfortably sit on my deck. Doesn’t it look nice?